It blamed Senate Democrats for the federal shutdown, saying they were blocking a stopgap bill to fund the government “due to unrelated policy demands.” It then listed various disruptions to veterans’ resources. As a Senate deadlock keeps the federal government unfunded, with no end in sight, some traditionally apolitical federal agencies are using their official channels to spread a coordinated political message: It’s the Democrats’ fault. Employee out-of-office messages are changedAt the Department of Education, out-of-office email messages were reset Wednesday with language blaming Democrats for the shutdown. Could the messaging violate federal law? Multiple experts said the messages also violate a 1939 law called the Hatch Act, which restricts certain political activities by federal employees.